School Board News Today, an online publication of NSBA, provides timely and relevant stories and analysis from NSBA and other news outlets to school board members, administrators, and all others interested in K-12 education.

PBS education correspondent John Merrow gave a great speech on the opening day of NSBA’s Leadership Conference. But he was thrown off stride by the first question tossed at him during the question and answer session.

Longtime San Francisco school board member Jill Wynns asked Merrow why — if, as he said in his speech, journalists are spending two much ink and airtime on the most vocal critics of public school  he spent months following Superintendent Paul Vallas in charter-happy New Orleans and Michelle Rhee, the combative former chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools. (The latter famously invited Merrow’s film crew to witness her firing of a teacher – a clip that later made it into the widely distorted polemic Waiting for Superman.)

Merrow’s answer? For once, the normally eloquent commentator offered an uncharacteristically weak and rambling answer  something about trying to get either Rhee or Vallas to agree to the project, and then having them both come back with “yeses” at about the same time and well, you know, what’s a reporter to do?

I don’t mean to pick on Merrow. If I were in his shoes, I probably would have done the same thing. Why? Because they’re great stories. Consider, which is more compelling TV footage: students at some high-performing public school learning Algebra II . or Rhee, the darling of education “reformers” taking on the education establishment, the teachers unions, and yes, one unfortunate teacher who’s soon to get fired? (more…)